See where safety needs attention.

Work through six control areas, record the current position, and leave with a focused action list for your workplace.

Engineer reviewing workplace plans beside safety equipment

A practical first pass

Turn a broad concern into a clear next action.

This checklist helps business owners, operations leaders, HR teams, SHEQ managers, and supervisors take a structured look at the controls that keep people and operations protected.

Use it during a workplace walk-through or management review. Mark each item honestly, then email the action summary for follow-up with the right people.

Important: This is a general screening tool, not a legal compliance certificate or a substitute for a workplace-specific risk assessment, audit, or professional advice.

Leadership and legal responsibilities

Confirm that responsibility is visible, understood, and supported by usable records.

Health and safety responsibilities are assigned to competent people and communicated to the workforce.

Required appointments are current, signed, accepted, and aligned with actual duties.

Health and safety policies and procedures are current, accessible, and understood.

Safety performance, incidents, and open actions are reviewed by management at planned intervals.

Risk assessment and controls

Check whether the workplace knows its material risks and controls them where work happens.

Risk assessments cover routine, non-routine, maintenance, and emergency activities.

Controls follow the hierarchy of control and do not rely only on PPE or worker behaviour.

Risk assessments are reviewed after incidents, changes, new equipment, or new work.

People doing the work participate in identifying hazards and testing whether controls are practical.

Competence and communication

Make sure people have the knowledge, instruction, and authority needed to work safely.

Employees and contractors receive a workplace-specific induction before starting work.

Training requirements are based on roles, hazards, legal duties, and the equipment people use.

Licences, certificates, medical fitness, and refresher dates are tracked and current where required.

Workers can report hazards, stop unsafe work, and raise concerns without fear of blame.

Workplace and equipment condition

Look for the everyday conditions that reveal whether controls remain effective.

Access routes, work areas, storage, lighting, ventilation, and housekeeping are kept in safe condition.

Machinery, tools, vehicles, and safety-critical equipment are inspected and maintained.

Guards, isolations, permits, warning systems, and emergency stops are present and effective where needed.

PPE is suitable for the hazard, available, maintained, correctly worn, and supported by training.

Incident and emergency readiness

Confirm that people can respond quickly, communicate clearly, and learn from events.

Emergency plans reflect credible scenarios, site conditions, people, and neighbouring risks.

Emergency contacts, alarms, evacuation routes, assembly points, and responsibilities are clear.

First-aid, firefighting, spill, and rescue resources are inspected and matched to the risk.

Incidents and near misses are reported, investigated, acted on, and communicated for learning.

Contractors, records, and follow-up

Close the loop between requirements, evidence, ownership, and corrective action.

Contractors are selected, inducted, coordinated, monitored, and held to clear safety requirements.

Inspections, training, incidents, maintenance, risk assessments, and legal records are retrievable.

Corrective actions have priorities, responsible people, target dates, and evidence of closure.

Recurring findings and overdue actions are escalated and reviewed for deeper causes.

After the review

Do not let the action list become another document.

Prioritise exposure.Start with serious risk, legal gaps, failed critical controls, and anything that could cause immediate harm.
Assign ownership.Give every action one responsible person, a realistic due date, and the authority or resources to close it.
Verify the result.Check that the action changed conditions in practice, then keep evidence and set the next review point.

Found gaps that need a closer look?

Bring the completed checklist and available evidence into a focused conversation with SMG. We’ll help you separate urgent exposure from structured improvement.

Review the findings with SMG